Artist description We are an acoustic/electric folk country rock band that likes to combine catchy melodies with original songwriting and performance. Although some of our songs are searching and soulful, others are light and pure pop fun. With a combination of acoustic guitars, accordion, congas, and keys, the Neal Hartzog Band is perhpas the most original "generic pop band" around.

Music Style Folk Country Pop and Electronica combined as Folkountrypoptronica.

Musical Influences R.E.M., Replacements, Better Than Ezra, Toad the Wet Sproket, Daft Punk, Randy Travis, Son Volt, Gin Blossoms, Hootie and the Blowfish, Dave Mathews

Similar Artists R.E.M., Hootie and the Blowfish, Son Volt, Push Stars

Artist History So there was this guy in high school in Jackson, Mississippi who really liked music. He spent a lot of his time driving around and listening to the Gin Blossoms, Better Than Ezra, and Hootie. One day he thought to himself, “hey, maybe I could do that too”. So he bought a guitar and learned a few chords. He ended up with a band called Sack Lunch, who played an impressive array of venues including the Mississippi State Fair and his sister’s 5th grade cafeteria. Neal was so prou There was another guy who grew up in Atlanta and moved to Eatonton, Georgia to attend a prestigious academic institution in that agrarian community. He was into baseball, football, and tennis, but also really enjoyed listening to music. The CD player in his Civic was usually occupied by R.E.M., U2, Poison, or the Spin Doctors. He too got a hankering to play music so he bought a bass and had a long series of arduous tryouts to select a band from his 23 classmates. Thus Tweed was born. Their resume was highlighted by gigs at high school basketball games and a headlining spot at the highly sought after Gatewood School Christmas Party. Ben was so proud. So there was this third guy who lived in Birmingham. He played basketball and listened to Vertical Horizon a lot. He also was into, wait, that’s about it. Lots of basketball and Vertical. It was not long before he abandoned his hoop dreams as is common among short white boys and filled his time playing guitar. He played at church with some guys from his youth group, but strummed more Vertical songs when nobody was looking. Awe is the only word to describe onlookers who saw him play at Dawson Memorial Baptist Church. Jason was so proud. The story takes a little twist here as there was this chick in Marietta, Georgia. When she wasn’t sneaking off downtown to ride the elevator at the Peachtree Plaza, she was probably listening to House of Pain, Blues Traveler, Tom Petty, Dave Matthews, or Madonna. She had taken piano lessons her whole life, and boy did they ever pay off. She played many recitals, but the most impressive was in her piano teacher’s living room. One of the guys she was playing with had a brother who had met John Tesh’s nephew. Jenny was so proud So let’s bring this all together. Neal, Ben and Jason joined Pi Kappa Phi fraternity and started hanging out together. Neal and Ben ended up rooming together, and Jason would stop by now and then to play some Vertical Horizon with Neal. Neal met Jenny while he was running around a parking lot with no pants on (don’t worry about that part), and they started dating. One night Neal and Ben were sitting around boasting about the heraldry bestowed upon their respective high school bands. After a couple of hours, Ben said, “hey, man, let’s put down our differences and work on a joint project”. Twenty three minutes later, they had three chords and some cheesy reflective lyrics. They grew into a song writing duo comparable only to a heterosexual version of Elton John and John-Bernie Taupin. Jason stopped by one day and Neal shared a couple of the new songs with him. He picked out some harmony parts on the guitar and it sounded pretty good. They started playing little gigs around Birmingham. Ben decided that the band needed to be filled out a little more, so he did the only rational thing and bid on an accordion from eBay at 1:00 on a Tuesday morning. He started playing with Neal and Jason a little, picking up the nickname “Monkey Boy” (Which he is still trying to get over). The guys eventually decided that the band should rock a little more, so they decided to go electric. They quickly realized that electric stuff was expensive and heavy. The idea was scrapped. Jenny came over one night and picked up the accordion. She was a lot better than Ben. It was also clear that having a hot girl playing the accordion was cooler than Ben playing it. So he again followed logic and bought some conga drums the next day. Thus the Neal Hartzog band as it is known today was born

Group Members Neal Hartzog - Guitar, Vocals Ben Carr - Congas, Vocals Brandon Carr - Keys, Vocals Jason Cook - Guitar Vocals Jen Douglass - Accordion

Instruments Guitar, Congas, Accordion, Keyboard, Sequencing

Albums Waiting for Jason, Dr. Esquire's Backwoods 9 to 5 Revival, Uberpop (not yet released)

Location Birmingham, Alabama - USA

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